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Volunteer Opportunities - Legal

Child Support Services

Legal Internships and Graduate Law Clerk (Post-Bar-Exam) Positions

Legal Internships are available throughout the year for currently enrolled law school students to gain valuable legal experience working with and under the supervision of experienced child support attorneys. Become a part of a dynamic team and help support the department’s mission of enhancing the lives and well-being of children and promoting family self-sufficiency by establishing and enforcing support orders. Legal internships are unpaid positions, but school credit may be available it offered by your law school.
Graduate Law Clerk paid positions are also available for law school graduates who are scheduled to take or have recently taken the California State Bar examination and are awaiting results.

More on volunteering with Child Support Services

Volunteer Coordinator:
Daisy Choreno
(858) 650-6532
_DCSSHR@sdcounty.ca.gov

Office of the Public Defender

Legal Internships and Post Bar Clerkships

Internships are, for the most part, un-paid positions; however, the experience volunteers receive is priceless.   There are many funding resources available for students interested in public interest internships including Federal Work Study, Public Interest Work Study, Public Interest Law Foundation Grants, and other grants or fellowships offered by law schools and private foundations. 

The Post Bar Clerkship affords a select group of students the opportunity to experience the demanding yet highly rewarding practice of a public defender.  Our nationally recognized program is designed to give students not just an understanding of the criminal justice system, but hands-on experience with trial advocacy and representing misdemeanor clients.

More on volunteering with the Public Defender

 

Legal Internships - Alternate Public Defender

​Internships are, for the most part, un-paid positions; however, the experience volunteers receive is priceless.   There are many funding resources available for students interested in public interest internships including Federal Work Study, Public Interest Work Study, Public Interest Law Foundation Grants, and other grants or fellowships offered by law schools and private foundations. 

More on volunteering with the Public Defender

 

Investigative Internships - Public Defender (PPD, APD, MCO)

Apply Now

Investigative Interns are accepted as volunteers while enrolled in college-level coursework in Criminal Justice, Sociology, Psychology or a related field. Our teams of professional defense investigators are critical to the protection of civil liberties for those accused of crimes.  

All Investigative Interns are volunteers who receive invaluable on-the-job training. Interns assist defense investigators in visiting crime scenes, interviewing witnesses, observing court hearings, conducting research and background investigations, gathering confidential records, and serving subpoenas. 

The volunteer program provides exposure to adult criminal or juvenile delinquency cases, as well as providing practical investigation experience.  Some students may receive academic credit for the internship program from their school. PPD, APD, and MCO are independent and ethically separate divisions of the Department of the Public Defender. 

Volunteer Coordinator:
pdi@sdcounty.ca.gov

For further questions you may also call and ask for a Investigative Internship coordinator at

PPD (619) 338-4700
APD (619) 446-2900
MCO (619) 446-2909

More on Volunteering with the Public Defender